Guidance

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has issued full guidance to the NHS in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland on placement of pectus bar for pectus excavatum (Nuss procedure).

Description

Pectus excavatum is an abnormality of the chest in which the breastbone sinks inward (sometimes called funnel chest). Problems associated with pectus excavatum are mainly cosmetic, although the condition can impair cardiac and respiratory function. Placement of a pectus bar for pectus excavatum (also known as the Nuss procedure) involves placing one or two steel (pectus) bars under the breastbone with the aim of raising it and correcting the abnormal shape. The bar, which is bent into a curve to fit the patient’s chest, is inserted through small openings in the chest. The bar (or bars) are usually removed within a few years of placement.

Your responsibility

This guidance represents the view of NICE, arrived at after careful consideration of the evidence available. When exercising their judgement, healthcare professionals are expected to take this guidance fully into account. However, the guidance does not override the individual responsibility of healthcare professionals to make decisions appropriate to the circumstances of the individual patient, in consultation with the patient and/or guardian or carer.

Commissioners and/or providers have a responsibility to implement the guidance, in their local context, in light of their duties to have due regard to the need to eliminate unlawful discrimination, advance equality of opportunity, and foster good relations. Nothing in this guidance should be interpreted in a way that would be inconsistent with compliance with those duties.